DINING IMPOSSIBLE 25 – BARCELONA – THE EXTRAORDINARE EDITION

BARCELONA 5 unique dining venues

Sat 26 May 19:00

The first gourmet raid of the dining season and epic all-time favourite Barcelona. Spain’s second city and the self-confident capital of Catalonia – including the twice celebrated world’s No. 3 in Girona.

We enter the mouthwatering metropolis in May, offering an otherworldly allround in-depth culinary experience to pleasure aficionados flying in from around the globe.

4 days – 5 unique dining venues – 12 Michelin stars

- 1 great dinner party.- 12 notabilities only.

Wednesday, May 23rd

Chapter 1 – The elBulli Alumni

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Disfrutar means “to enjoy” and there is no doubt that the three sterling chefs behind this restaurant delivers in full.

In Spain this glorious trifecta is pretty famous, thanks to their pure and utter devotion to elBulli – with a joint accumulation of more than 45 years of experience at the 5-times voted “The World’s Best Restaurant”, including long hours at El Bulli Taller and the innovation lab.

From the beginning to its last day on July 30, 2011, Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casanas were a part of the creative core team that innovated endlessly and ultimately through these heavily documented experiments, that changed the way we understand food today.

Thursday, May 24th

Chapter 2 – The World’s Twice No. 1

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The passion for cooking and hospitality shared by the three Roca brothers is palpable, but the food is playful rather than serious (caramelised olives are brought to the table on bonsai trees) and Catalan ingredients are given centre-stage on the menu.

Superior techniques complement simple flavour combinations designed to titillate the palate and the memory rather than confuse the mind. It’s very clever stuff – but thankfully it is also utterly delicious.

El Celler de Can Roca holds three stars in Guide Michelin and was voted the “World’s Best Restaurant” in 2013 and 2015, and currently holds a third place at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The first time the restaurant was named No. 1, its website had 12 million hits.

Friday, May 25th.

Chapter 3 – The Young Master

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Gastronomy is the fundamental axis of the ABaC project.

The restaurant has been awarded 2 Michelin stars and run by Chef Jordi Cruz, who earned his first star at the tender age of 24, becoming the youngest chef in Spain and the second youngest in the world to have been awarded this accolade.

The strong promise he represents within the panorama of Spanish Cuisine was clearly recognised from that moment on and in 2018 ABaC was added to the prestigious collection of Spanish three-starred Michelin restaurants.

Saturday, May 26th.

Chapter 4 – Breakfast at Tickets / Feast at Lasarte

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Having returned to Barcelona by limousines when the birds starts to sing, we 9 hours later enter the famous, glorious, adventurous and notorious Tickets for a dazzling late breakfast in the early afternoon.

It is the beating culinary heart of Albert Adrià’s ambitious but straightforward goal; to convert Barcelona into the culinary capital of Europe.

While Ferran Adrià’s focus shifted to the El Bulli Foundation, a program dedicated to transforming the former restaurant into a competitive cooking school, Albert’s attention returned to Barcelona full time.

“If anyone can transform an entire neighbourhood into a gigantic restaurant, it is Albert Adrià – one of the best cooks in the world,” says the Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak, who met Albert through Ferran when Albert was just 17 years old. “He’s always been a lively, quick-witted and extremely inventive individual. There aren’t many chefs who can match his creativity.”